| Professor Tamunopriye Jones Agiobenebo has been a Professor in the Department of Economics, University of Port Harcourt Since 2000. He was the immediate past special Adviser (Economics Matters) To The former president, Office of the Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria in this capacity, He was the Economic Adviser to the then Vice President. Before this appointment he was the Director, College of Continuing Education (Cce) of the University of Port Harcourt. He is also a Member of the Government of Rivers State of Nigeria Economic Advisory Council. He was on leave from August 2003 to August 11, 2008 during which period he was a visiting scholar to the University of Botswana in his rank as a Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics in that University from August 13, 2003 to August 31, 2005. Thereafter, he was recruited as a Senior Research Fellow (Microeconomics Specialist) In the Botswana National Think Tank – The Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (Bidpa), where he was the Head of the Microeconomics/Structural Change Unit of the Institute and Practised Policy Research, Analysis and Advice. In this capacity he wrote many successful policy research proposals and conducted consultancies on diverse economic and social development issues for the government of Botswana, parastatals and private sector institutions on behalf of the institute paying particular attention to the complexity of policy analysis and management in the twenty-first century. Some of the policy issues he dealt with were social value of agricultural subsidy in a desert country; manpower and skills development, employment strategy and localization; baseline database development for small, micro, medium and large enterprises, sector mapping and validation; economic diversification; and development of the informal sector of the Botswana economy among many others. He was also engaged in capacity building and mentoring of young professionals at the institute by imparting background knowledge and skills in policy research, analysis and advice; research proposal writing and research methodology. His other roles included serving on the National Steering Committee for the Botswana Innovation Hub Development Project; acted as the Executive Director of the institute at various occasions; he represented the institute at the African Capacity Building Foundation (Acbf) Multi-Stakeholders Workshop on performance management system in capacity building and the first Annual Meeting of African Policy Institutes Forum (Apif) in November 2007. His last project at the Institute – A package of four major projects to evaluate and fast track the implementation of Botswana’s vision 2016; development of the informal sector study; Hiv and Aids study and capacity building programmes anchored on the findings of the research studies of bidpa for which his proposal was awarded a sizeable amount of funding from the African Development Bank Middle-Income Countries Fund. During this period from 2004 to 2006 he served as an external examiner to the University of Dar Es Salaam and from 2005 to 2007, he was also an external examiner to the University of Namibia. since 2009, he has been external examiner to the University of Oyo until his appointment as Economic Adviser to the former Vice President and currently he is the external examiner for the postgraduate programmes in economics in the Department of Economics, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Professor Agiobenebo was the economist member of the Nuc Accreditation Team of Madonna University, Okija, Anambra State from December 11 – 13th 2009. Professor Agiobenebo is the Principal Consultant to cordec on fiscal policy and applied econometrics in a training workshop to Chair Middle Management Staff at Mirage Hotel, Calabar from January 25 – 29th 2010. Programme Committee Member, 71st International Atlantic Economic Society Conference, Athens, Greece held at the Royal Olympic Hotel from 16-19 March 2011. Chair, Renewable Resources and Environmental Management Session Presenter, “The Hydrocarbons Industry and the Tragedy of the Niger Delta Discussant, “The Social Economic Value of Abandoned Mine-Fields Rehabilitation Projects: The Case of S. Domingos Mine” and “Revisiting the Relationship between Income and Stated Wtp: What Elasticities Are We Measuring” Delegate, 2011 Global Forum On Borderless Higher Education: Levelling The Playing Field At The Hyatt Regency Hotels & Towers, Vancouver, Canada. |
